Wilson Tricks Out His Heisman Resume

If Boise State is serious about helping Kellen Moore win the Heisman Trophy, the Broncos need to show off their quarterback's versatility. Throw the passer a pass or two.

It seems to be a trend in college football these days. Or maybe it would be better described as a gimmick, sort of like putting up a website promoting a player.

Stanford's Andrew Luck already has his highlight-reel catch, a one-handed, toe-dragging sideline grab for 13 yards in a 45-19 victory over UCLA a couple weeks ago.

Wisconsin's Russell Wilson made his cameo as a receiver Saturday. Wilson's catch was more routine, but it produced a 25-yard touchdown during a 59-7 rout of Indiana.

Luck and Wilson are worthy Heisman contenders without the trick plays.

Luck, the overwhelming preseason favorite and virtual lock to be the first player taken in the NFL draft, has thrown for 1,719 yards and 18 touchdowns for No. 7 Stanford.

Wilson, the North Carolina State transfer, leads the nation in passer rating and has accounted for 13 touchdowns, including the TD grab from running back Montee Ball.

But with more than 900 voters, the Heisman balloting has a lot of popularity contest in it and schools are always looking for ways to make their stars standout.

So it helps to have something different — such as, say, a quarterback catching a pass — on that resume.

Auburn did it last year with Cam Newton, throwing the towering quarterback a fade in the corner of the end zone for a first-half touchdown in a 51-31 victory against Mississippi.

Maybe you notice a trend?

These plays tend to be pulled off in games where the team with the star has a clear advantage. They also tend to be run early to avoid accusations of trying to embarrass the opponent. Still, seeing a wide-open Wilson haul in that floater and jog into the end zone, it did feel a bit orchestrated.

"We were 10 for 10 during the week on it, so I knew it was going to be a touchdown," Wilson said after the Badgers' latest blowout.

A couple of other Heisman contenders added to their resumes Saturday in more organic fashion.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson had a career game in the Tide's 52-7 win at Ole Miss, with 183 yards rushing and four touchdowns. The last score was a 76-yard run that will go down as one of the best of the season and be the centerpiece of Richardson's Heisman campaign.

Richardson blew through several Rebels at the line, sprinted into the open, then used a stutter-step to collapse the last defender with a chance to keep him from the end zone.

The run prompted longtime Mississippi sports writer Rick Cleveland of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson to tweet: "Trent Richardson reminds me of Walter Payton. There, I've said it."

Cleveland knows a thing or two about Sweetness. He covered the Bears' Hall of Fame running back in high school and in college at Jackson State.

When it comes to jaw-dropping plays, Clemson receiver Sammy Watkins might lead the country.

The freshman receiver had the best game of his already spectacular career, gaining a school-record 345 all-purpose yards in the Tigers' 56-45 victory against Maryland.

The last of Watkins' three touchdowns was an 89-yard kickoff return that came right after the Terps had regained the lead and put Clemson ahead to stay in the fourth quarter.

Watkins has a chance to be the first freshman to win the Heisman.

As for Moore, the senior is having another tremendous season. He's thrown 21 touchdown passes for No. 5 Boise State.

But the Broncos will be harder to find on television this season in the Mountain West Conference. No more of those Friday night league games on ESPN they so often played in the Western Athletic Conference. It might be time for some of that signature Boise State trickery.

Moore caught a 7-yard TD pass against in a 49-20 victory against Louisiana Tech last year, on the way to finishing fourth in the Heisman voting.

He might need to work on his post patterns this year.

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One non-Heisman voters, halfway Heisman ballot — with the understanding that Luck and Wilson haven't played enough big games yet to make the top three.

1) Trent Richardson, Alabama. Fourth in nation in rushing and second in touchdowns, playing in an offense that doesn't pose a great threat throwing the ball.

2) Sammy Watkins, Clemson. He's had huge performances when the Tigers have needed them to win competitive games.

3) Robert Griffin III, Baylor. The difference between Baylor playing in a bowl and Baylor winning three games, is RGIII. Plus, he gets bonus points because his 15-yard catch against TCU came during the winning drive.

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QUICK HITS

—Even if Boise State declines the Big East's overtures and stays in the MWC, it will be hard to make a case that the newly announced Conference USA-MWC merger deserves an automatic BCS bid. CUSA teams are 9-23 out of conference against FBS opponents this season. The MWC, not including TCU which is leaving for the Big 12 next season, is 10-14. Boise State has five of those wins. Nevada, Hawaii and Fresno State, WAC teams that will join the MWC next season, are 2-9 against FBS opponents.

—Ohio State beat Illinois 17-7 while throwing four passes and completing one. It was a key win for the Buckeyes (4-3), who are looking to salvage a tumultuous season and play No. 4 Wisconsin next.

—Terrible news Sunday for South Carolina star Marcus Lattimore, who was lost for the season with a left knee injury. The Gamecocks still control the SEC East race because of that early season victory against Georgia, but the Bulldogs' path to SEC title game looks more manageable.

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LOOKING AHEAD

Time to find out just how good Wisconsin is. The fourth-ranked Badgers play their first true road game on Saturday at No. 15 Michigan State. They follow that trip with one to Ohio State.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at http://Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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Oklahoma State’s Weeden Is Heisman Contender

By now, Weeden knows to expect some gag gift from his teammates, and they could easily remind him of his age and his unconventional career path with a birth certificate showing that he was born 49 days before Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Or maybe a plaque showing that Weeden is older than 16 of the 32 starting N.F.L. quarterbacks.

“Somebody bought him some old-man diapers for his birthday last year,” wide receiver Justin Blackmon said. “That was pretty funny.”

The No. 6-ranked Cowboys could simply mark the occasion with a second consecutive victory over No. 22 Texas in Austin and pass a crucial signpost en route to the Bedlam Game on Dec. 5 against No. 3 Oklahoma. Oklahoma State (5-0) sits on the fringe of the national title discussion, and can enhance its standing for the first Bowl Championship Series rankings this weekend.

Weeden lurks behind Andrew Luck and others as an afterthought in a Heisman Trophy race that is gathering steam among the nation’s top quarterbacks.

“I embrace it, because it’s going to be there,” Weeden said of the Heisman talk. “That’s one thing where my age helps in dealing with it, but that stuff will take care of itself.

“Such a big deal has been made of my age. I use it to my advantage. I think it’s a positive this year. I think it’s a positive for my future. It’s one of those deals, the way I look at it is, name one person who wouldn’t want to be in the position I am, and have the kind of path I’ve had?”

Weeden idolized the Yankees while growing up in Edmond, Okla., and his favorite players were Derek Jeter and Don Mattingly. So when the team picked him as a pitcher in the second round of the 2002 amateur draft, Weeden said it was an easy call. He was traded in 2003 to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the deal for pitcher Kevin Brown, and also spent time with the Kansas City Royals, before shoulder problems wore down his pitching motion and ended his career after five seasons in the minors.

“The opportunity was too good, and baseball was always my thing,” Weeden said. “The day I signed the contract, I remember thinking, if this doesn’t work out, then I’ve always got college football. My goal was to make it to the big leagues the entire time, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

Weeden, who walked on at Oklahoma State in 2007 and redshirted, has completed 166 of 219 passes for 1,880 yards and 15 touchdowns this season. Of the Heisman-hopeful quarterbacks whose teams are ranked in the top 7, Weeden has the best completion percentage (75.8), more accurate than Russell Wilson (74.8 percent) of No. 4 Wisconsin; Kellen Moore (74.0) of No. 5 Boise State; Luck of No. 7 Stanford (73.1); and Landry Jones of No. 3 Oklahoma (69.3).

Weeden also leads in passing yardage, throwing for 497 yards more than Luck, 489 more than Moore and 66 more than Jones.

“Every time we step on the field, we get a little bit better, our timing gets better, our chemistry gets stronger,” said Blackmon, the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation’s best receiver and Weeden’s top target, with 46 catches for 534 yards and 6 touchdowns. “He’s the best. I wouldn’t trade him for anything.”

Texas might be 4-1, but it finds itself reeling after a 55-17 throttling by Oklahoma. The Sooners carved the Longhorns’ secondary into brisket, and Oklahoma’s defense forced five turnovers and scored three touchdowns.

Texas Coach Mack Brown said he was already worried about the Cowboys after the thrashing.

“We don’t have any time to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves,” Brown said.

Blackmon said: “We know they’re going to come out swinging. They’re not going to take things lightly. We’re not going to go in looking at what O.U. did and expecting the same thing.”

No matter the outcome of the Red River Rivalry in Brown’s 13 seasons, the Longhorns have always won their next game. That could be a difficult streak to continue against an Oklahoma State offense that is averaging 51.4 points, tops in the country. In the Cowboys’ 33-16 victory last year, Weeden passed for 409 yards.

“We should be able to get better because we had three hours of defending some of the best receivers and the best quarterback in the country, and now we’re going to have three hours of defending one of the best quarterbacks and some of the best receivers in the country,” Brown said. “So I think it’s on us to get better.”

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The Quad: Interactive Feature: Heisman Watch: Week 7

Pete Thamel is the national college sports reporter for The Times, where his primary responsibilities are college football and basketball. He is in his sixth season with The Times, witnessing everything from the Bush Push at Notre Dame to Ian Johnson's sideline engagement at the Fiesta Bowl to Mario Chalmers's long 3-pointer to give Kansas the national championship. Before joining The Times, Thamel covered college sports for ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, The Syracuse Post-Standard and The Daily Orange. A native of Ware, Mass., Thamel graduated from Syracuse University in 1999.

Connor Ennis has been a staff editor in the sports department of The New York Times since November 2006. Before coming to the Times, he worked for The Associated Press, where he was a supervising editor on the national sports desk in New York. While with the AP, he covered the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and the 2006 World Cup in Germany. A native of Dallas, Pa., he graduated from Syracuse University in 2000.

Ray Glier is a freelance reporter who, in addition to The New York Times, contributes to USA Today, AOL FanHouse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald and Unboundary, a strategy/communications firm based in Atlanta. Glier is a graduate of West Virginia University.

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